Abstract

Atrazine bioconcentration and uptake were determined for eight freshwater green algae and diatoms. Atrazine uptake was extremely rapid in all species examined, with nearly 90% of total uptake occurring within the first hour of exposure. Within each division, different species had different bioconcentration capacities, although the accumulation of atrazine was consistently higher in green algae (5.43–12.73 ng/mg) than in diatoms (0.33–1.69 ng/mg). Atrazine concentrations in the algal cells were much higher than in the medium, although the total amount of atrazine taken up by algae was small relative to the total atrazine in solution (1–3%). The ability of algal cells to accumulate atrazine was highly correlated with algal cell biovolume and surface area, and a strong relationship was observed between sensitivity to atrazine and bioconcentration, cell biovolume, and surface area. In general, higher bioconcentration factors were associated with increased atrazine sensitivity.